Our View: Joe Kennedy has his 'ich bin ein Berliner' moment

Friday

Feb 2, 2018 at 6:05 AM

The Editorial Board

In 1963, John F. Kennedy went to West Berlin and told the crowd hungry for a vote of confidence “Ich bin ein Berliner," "I am a Berliner."

On Tuesday, Congressman Joe Kennedy traveled to Fall River, a city built by immigrants, and before the world turned to the camera and addressed the Dreamers directly in Spanish, "Ustedes son parte de nuestra historia. Vamos a luchar por ustedes y no nos vamos alejar," "You are a part of our story. We will fight for you. We will not walk away."

On Tuesday, Americans were presented with two starkly different visions of America.

One, during President Donald Trump's State of the Union address, that says we will build “a great wall on the southern border.”

And the other, in Kennedy's rebuttal on behalf of the Democratic party, that says, “If you build a wall my generation will tear it down.”

One is a message of fear and digging in and hunkering down. It is a vision that divides. It is a vision that defines what it means to be American not by the content of our characters but by the pedigree of our birth certificates and the size of our bank accounts. It is one that props up first-class citizens by creating second-class citizens.

The other says we are more than the sum of our parts and stronger if we work together than if we tear each other down. Or as Kennedy put it, "Out of many, one."

If that sounds familiar, it is because that is the very creed by which we live, "e pluribus unum."

When JFK went to West Berlin in 1963, at issue was also a wall.

In that most famous of Cold War anti-Communist speeches, Kennedy was sending a message of support to West Berliners a couple of years after Soviet Union-backed East Berlin built the Berlin Wall – in that case to keep would-be defectors in.

In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan took up the cause with his famous words, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

If JFK had simply said, "I am a Berliner," his speech might have been forgotten.

But instead he made a bold, generous and unforgettable choice. By saying those words in German, he conveyed a powerful message, not just of empathy but of equality. He was not merely saying 'I feel your pain,' but 'I am one of you.’

Joe Kennedy made a similar choice when he addressed the Dreamers in Spanish.

Taunton Mayor Tom Hoye said it best when he described Joe Kennedy as someone who "cares deeply about people, especially those who are vulnerable, and he’s incredibly down to earth."

Kennedy proved Tuesday night he inherited much more than a name.

Perhaps we should all take note of a January night in Fall River when a young Congressman from Massachusetts told the world exactly what story he had in mind when he told the Dreamers they are “part of our story”:

“It began the day our Founding Fathers and Mothers set sail for a New World, fleeing oppression and intolerance. It continued with every word of our independence – the audacity to declare that all men are created equal. An imperfect promise for a nation struggling to become a more perfect union.”

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